President Joe Biden said Thursday he would make a renewed effort to enact a ban on assault-style rifles following a wave of mass shootings that have again put a spotlight on the nation’s gun laws.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to a fire station on Thanksgiving morning, the president reiterated his long-standing argument that such weapons are a societal menace and should not be sold.
“The idea that we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” he said while greeting firefighters in Nantucket, Massachusetts, where he and his family are spending the Thanksgiving holiday. “It has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”
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Congress has proved reluctant to outlaw AR-15s and other assault-style guns. The Democratic-controlled House passed a ban in July, in a vote largely along party lines. But the bill stands little chance of advancing in the Senate, where 10 Republicans would need to join a unified Democratic caucus to break a filibuster.
